Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be transferred from animals to human beings or from humans to animals. Humans can act as carriers of the diseases and spread them as well as be affected and die in case of the more serious ones like Anthrax, Brucellosis, Rift Valley Fever, Tuberculosis etc.
Domestic animals present problems not only for their handlers, i.e., farmers, but also for consumers when animals are used for food. Food products made from animals include not only meat, but meat derivatives that are added to sweets and other foods, and therefore, are less obvious to consumers. An example of a disease believed to be transmitted to humans from an animal product is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease-variant (vCJD), of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as "mad cow disease". Despite the extreme rarity of this illness, the effects are so devastating that public health officials around the world recommend their governments take strict prevention measures (CDC/Edwin P. Ewing, Jr.)
The following animal diseases are known to affect humans in one form or another:
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